A Gift For Green Eyes
by Jenwryn
Summary: Lily/Remus. Either shippy or friendshippy, as you will, according to interpretation. Set on Lily's birthday during their Fifth Year at Hogwarts. Remus has made her a birthday present and is worried she might not like it. Cheery sweet fic. R&R.


Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. Not beta read; don't jinx, however corrective spells are more than welcome to be cast in my direction…

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**A Gift For Green Eyes**

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_'I saw you in the curve of the moon _

_In the shadow cast across my room _

_You heard me in my tune _

_When I just heard confusion.'_

-U2, 'All Because of You',2004.

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(30 January) 

Remus Lupin, werewolf and Gryffindor Prefect, stood at the end of the ill-lit corridor and watched the newborn moon spilling feeble milky light onto the stone floor in front of his too-big shoes. Uncomfortable, he flicked his wand and the row of candles along the inner wall of the hallway spluttered into life. The boy started to pace. She was late. And she'd said she'd meet him here. It was their night on patrol – with the Hufflepuffs – and she should have been here by now. Of course, it was probably just that the girls had held her up in the dorm with their celebrations, but―

Remus heard the familiar sound of her quick, sure footsteps coming up the stairs towards him and his heart lifted with a bounce at the sight of her dark hair gleaming red in the candlelight as she appeared in view.

'Lily!'

'Remus,' she greeted him happily and skipped over as if she'd just turned twelve instead of sixteen, came to a halt a few feet from him, and did a pretty little pirouette on the spot, her black school robes shining oddly in the mix of candlelight and moonlight-glow. 'Notice anything?'

The young wizard paused before answering that, knowing full well that a lot could hang on a seemingly innocent question like that when witches – even smart ones like Lily Evans – were involved. He raised his eyes up and down her once and then observed in a surprised voice, 'You've had your hair cut! Who did it? It looks really nice.'

Remus wasn't one of those boys who could flatter artfully – he wasn't Potter or Black – he simply meant what he said, and Lily knew it. With delight at the compliment, and pleasure at the fact that he'd been able to spot the difference, she lurched forwards with a beam to throw her arms around him but at the last minute he threw up a hand to hold her off and said, 'Careful, Lil.'

She came to an unsteady halt, confused, and her green eyes narrowed a little. 'What? Have you given up on hugs as well?' and there was a bitter tone to her voice and he knew intuitively that she was thinking about Snape. Personally, Remus didn't know what she saw in him, but on the other hand he wasn't stupid enough to bad-mouth the bloke. Mostly, he just regretted having rubbed the shiny edge off her joy. That, and the fact that he'd missed out on one of her fierce hugs… So he grinned a little ruefully and said, 'Nah. It's just that I don't want you to squish him.'

Lily blinked, head tilting a little to the right, the movement making the red dance in her hair. 'Squish who?'

Remus patted his robes with an air of mystery. 'Well, your birthday present of course. I know it's late in the day of it, but I didn't want to give him to you in the Common Room in case the crowd scared him and…' and in case she didn't like his gift, in which case he didn't need an audience. But he didn't say that aloud. Instead, he shrugged. 'Come on. We'd better do the rounds at least once first, though. You know what a stickler McGonagall is, and she's on tonight. We'd better be seen at least once in all the right spots.'

Remus and Lily passed Professor McGonagall at the base of the staircase that wound up to the Astronomy Tower. She'd nodded at them pleasantly, said: 'Miss Evans, Mr Lupin. Nice evening for it,' in that dry, mild voice of hers, and then headed off in the direction from which they'd just come. Remus and Lily exchanged a somewhat furtive grin and continued along the passageway until the sound of McGonagall's smartly-paced but steady footfall fade into the distance. Then Lily grabbed her friend's sleeve and pulled him to a halt in front of a window and looked at him with her green eyes so expectant that she reminded him of a little kid at Chistmas. The window splashed moonlight in on him through it's pearly panes and reflected it off a mirror opposite, and Remus scratched at his eyebrow a little, but Lily was smiling so curiously that he couldn't help but smile back, and reach his hands into the folds of his robes.

'Shut your eyes,' he instructed and she scrunched them shut in instant obedience. Remus pulled a small pouch from beneath his Prefect's badge and then with his other hand he reached down and grasped her wand-hand gently. A rush of warmth span through him as her fingers closed automatically around his fingers at his touch and for a heartbeat he just wanted to stand there and hold it, his heart pummelling madly against his ribcage, but then he released his grasp, laying her hand flat, palm up, and placed his gift in its centre.

'Can I open my eyes?' she demanded a little impatiently, and then let out something across between a giggle and a squeak – the sound caught Remus fair in the pit of the stomach and made it tremble – as a minute damp nose pressed against her soft skin.

'Sure,' he agreed calmly.

Her green eyes sprang open, wide and right as she stared down at her hand. A tiny little dog – no – of course – a tiny little wolf – sat on its haunches and gazed up at her, silvery tail thumping happily against her palm, and then scratched itself unconcerned behind a pointed ear. When Lily raised her flattened hand ever so carefully up to her face level to take a better look, the little wolf rose to its tiny paws – apparently unfazed by the fact that the 'ground' was shifting – and trotted over to inspect her fingers intently, s though tracking some tantalising scent.

Lily was so silent and wide-eyed that for a moment Remus suffered the sinking feeling of a boy who's just made a terrible error. 'He's really well trained,' he said in a quick rush of anxious words, 'And when you put him in his pouch he just dozes off as good as can be.' Remus held up the battered little pouch he'd sewn, and opened it against her hand. The wolf sniffled at it, twitched its ears once as thought bothered by invisible insects, and then slipped inside delicately and curled up. His creator pulled the cords closed and then, a little nervously, hung the pouch on its boot-lace string around Lily's neck.

'I know there are probably other animals that you'd prefer but, well, I know wolves so well, and see, well, I thought, you know, so you don't forget me…' he paused, embarrassed.

Lily put her hands gently against the pouch where it hung between her small breasts. 'Remus John Lupin, how could I forget you?'

'Well…' He didn't really want to admit that he considered himself to be an eminently forgettable person, nor the fact that every single year he feared it would be his last year in Hogwarts, that at some stage Dumbledore's precious, incredible protection of him would run out and he'd be dumped at the gate with his broken suitcase and a bone to gnaw on and―

'Well,' said Lily, her eyes searching his face intently as though she'd crept beneath his skin and read his thoughts, 'I think he's adorable, anyway.'

Remus rubbed at the scares lined silver across his face. 'Really?' He tried not to look astonished, and failed.

'Of course I do! It's the sweetest little thing I – ohhh, and I'll have to name him now.' She had a slightly faraway look on her face at the thought and Remus could feel every pore in his body radiate happiness. Together they set off back down the corridor, continuing their rounds, and for a while simply tossed name suggestions back and forth between them with soft laughter. Then Lily paused in the middle of a sentence, turned those eyes of hers on him with a curious glimmer lurking in their green depths, and enquired unexpectedly, 'What was he before you transfigured him? Professor McGonagall would go out of her brain with joy if you handed such a cutie in in class but I don't see you getting him out of a matchstick.'

Remus looked suddenly anxious again. 'A – a sock.'

Lily stopped on the spot and stared at him. 'A sock?'

He shrugged and shuffled a little where he stood, nodding sheepishly. 'Yeah. A few socks, actually, before I got it right. It was harder than I'd thought. But I got it in the end.' And he tugged up the legs of his trousers, with a slight grin, to reveal bare ankles in his school shoes. For a second Lily was lost for words as she tried to think of a way to express the rush of affection she felt, to explain that the fact he'd scarified his socks to make her gift made her value it even more. But somehow she didn't think that she could get out the emotion without sounding stupid or – worse – making him feel like a charity case. So instead she just tilted her head a little to the right, smiled, and said in a low happy voice, 'So can I hug you now?'

And his slow, honest grin as he opened his arms to let her in was the best birthday present yet.


End file.
